Image caption
Robert and Florence Horner had been enjoying a day trip to Durham City

A lack of accessible buses left a Teesside man and his 90-year-old disabled mother stranded in Durham.

Robert and Florence Horner were at the bus station in good time for a bus back to their Stockton home after a day out.

But they had to endure a four-hour wait after four buses in a row had steps which his mother, a wheelchair user, was unable to access.

Arriva North East apologised but said it did not operate a full low-floor, easy-access fleet.

Mr Horner said he and his mother had turned up at the bus station by about 1745 BST, but by the time the second bus had been and gone they were getting a "bit sick and fed up".

'Absolutely mad'

"I asked someone I took to be an inspector and he said the next bus would definitely be low-level, but when it came in it had steps.

"My mother was a bit desperate because there were no toilets with disabled facilities and I was starting to panic wondering how we were going to get home because I'd no money for a taxi or anything like that."